Red
by ReiKingdom
Summary: 100 moments of red in the life of Kuroba Kaito. All relationships are written as platonic, but ambiguous enough to be romantic I guess. May contain references/spoilers for certain episodes, warnings inside. /currently ongoing/ (also on Archive of Our Own)
1. Part I

_wow okay. im actually going to do this._

 _this is actually a challenge to myself to update this everyday with 3 or so moments (think of them as mini-arcs, each moment on its own is pretty short) in a single chapter, so that i can make myself stop procrastinating and that i can put warning for each individual part (instead of it being one massive block of writing)._

 _so, dearest People of the Internet,_

 _i present the product of me getting my act together and writing down the idea thats been festering in my head for 2 years._

 _(if all goes well, i had this other idea for making this into a series...)_

 _anyway._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Part I**

 _Curtain, Fire, Warm._

SPOILERS: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 1 (The Revived Phantom Thief Kid) or Magic Kaito TV Special: The Revived Phantom Thief

* * *

 _Curtain._

The veil between the stage and seats.

The divide between performer and audience.

The barrier between dreams and reality.

 _"_ _When the curtains open, a magician becomes the guide through which the people can experience spectacular miracles. And someday, you too can be on this side of curtains if you wish to, Kai-chan."_

The show was beginning.

He watched as the curtains opened and he stood, cheering for his father as he lifted his top hat, bowing to the audience amidst a flurry of confetti. He knew his voice was only a whisper to the applause of the others, but as his father straightened, he looked straight at him, eyes twinkling knowingly, as if he'd known what he was thinking, and smiled.

And he knew, one day he'd be on the other side of the curtain.

... _..._

 _Fire._

Hot and burning, flooding and consuming, destroying everything it touched.

The resounding _boom_ barely registered in his ears before his vision was enveloped in flames, scorching and searing the walls with black, burning the previously opulent stage where his father had been standing. His ears were ringing with the force of the blast, the yells of the scrambling crowd white noise to the insistent buzzing in his head.

A familiar hand grabbed forcefully to his upper arm, dragging him away from the swirling inferno, his mother's panicked and desperate voice a whisper amidst the din of the chaos.

Smoke choked his lungs, the heat blistering against his skin, the blaze unbearably close, yet so far, as if he was watching a movie, the images burned into his mind as much as the fire burned the theater.

He was screaming.

Despite his watering eyes, sweltering skin, slow suffocation and desperate tugs on his arm, he screamed.

He screamed for his father, lost in the firestorm, the sea of flames encircling him with no way out.

He screamed even as he knew his father would no longer answer.

... _..._

 _Warm._

It wasn't hot or suffocating in his mother's arms.

She was yelling into her phone, meaning lost to the young boy clutching desperately to her chest, but the anger still obvious in her shouts.

 _"_ _Find out who did this! I don't care how! You know you owe me!"_

The hands of the doctors who checked for smoke inhalation were cold.

 _"_ _I don't care if I've retired, I know it wasn't an accident! It_ can't _have been!"_

The room they had interviewed him was cold.

 _"_ _Don't lecture me about recklessness!"_

The memory of the theater was burning.

 _"_ _Talk to people! I know people who should know!_ Someone _must know!"_

The memory of the theater was freezing.

 _"_ _So you better make someone start talking or–"_

He was numb.

 _"_ _Kaa-san…"_

He didn't want to feel it anymore.

 _"_ _Oh, Kai-chan…"_

He was crying again.

 _"_ _Oh God, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."_

The sound of the phone clattered to the floor, soothing warmth enveloping him.

 _"_ _Oh Kai-chan… I forgot I wasn't the only one who was suffering…"_

He nuzzled in deeper to the peaceful warmth, his voice breaking, hoarse from tears;

 _"_ _Stay?"_

Warm hands closed around his own, prying them away from their anxious grip he had on her shirt.

He held on tighter.

 _"_ _Kai-chan…"_

Some part of him knew that if he let go now, he never feel the blessed warmth again.

 _"_ _Please…"_

Warm hands cupping his face, carding through his hair, gently wiping away his tears.

He opened his eyes.

 _"_ _I'm staying, Kai-chan. I'm staying."_

A fresh wave of tears poured from his eyes as his mother whispered reassurances into his ear, wrapping him in their small bubble of warmth, away from the bitter world.

He hoped it would last forever.

He wondered how long it would last.

* * *

NOTES:

CURTAIN: Touichi's quote here isn't actually canaon. Made if up myself ;)

FIRE: I went with the TV Special's backstory because I like the idea of an explosion at a performance better.

WARM: I imagined the person she was yelling at on the phone was one of her old underground contacts from her Phantom Lady days.  
 _[see: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 9 (The Phantom Lady Appears), Episode 10 (The Phantom Lady and Ryoma's Treasure) and Episode 11 (Kid and Conan's Ryoma Treasure Illusion) or Detective Conan Episode 627 and 628 (Conan & Kid's Battle for Ryoma's Treasure) ]_

* * *

 **TBC**

3/100

btw, follows, favs and reviews = motivation

~Rei K.


	2. Part II

**Part II**

 _Ace, Tie, Vengeance, Blanket._

SPOILERS: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 1 (The Revived Phantom Thief Kid) or Magic Kaito TV Special: The Revived Phantom Thief

* * *

 _Ace._

He stared over the edge of his cards, straight into his opponent's eyes.

Keen eyes caught and categorised every twitch and tell.

A boy, older now, but still young, remembering his father's teachings.

 _"When you face the audience, you step onto a battlefield."_

His opponent glaring angrily over his cards, meeting his even stare, then flickering down to the red backs of his cards, as if expecting to see through them, frustrated at the lack of emotion.

 _"_ _You must never be overconfident or underestimate them, but see through their hearts and minds instead."_

His opponent is dealt a card.

 _"_ _Pay full attention to your hands to utilize all your skills, but maintain your smile and elegance all the while..."_

A twitch of the lips: a tell.

 _"_ _And no matter what happens…"_

His opponents hand, spread on the table.

"Full house! Take that, Kuroba-kun!"

A Cheshire cat smirk.

 _"_ _Never forget your poker face."_

"Sorry, but…"

He lays down a four-of-a-kind.

"I win."

Eyes and mouth wide open in shock.

"Eeeeeeehh?!"

... _..._

 _Tie._

Disbelief.

 _'_ _No way…'_

The sight of the pristine white-caped suit, the very same image that had been plastered on every newspaper and website since the Phantom Thief's return, had him freezing in his steps.

 _'_ _Kaitou Kid…'_

His body tense, muscles tight, stomach coiled in a mixture of _confusionshockangersadness_ , mind immediately leaping to the only logical _(impossible)_ and obvious _(IMPOSSIBLE)_ answer.

 _'_ _No way, no way, no way–'_

His mind raced with questions, theories and _whenwhyhownoitcan'tnononoNO–_

 _'–_ _Stop. Think.'_

The secret room.

The cassette tape.

The eight year lock.

The–

The eight year lock.

Eight years.

 _Eight years._

Eight years ago was when–

 _boom_

 _'_ _No.'_

 _screams_

 _'_ _NO.'_

He was screaming.

"Stop it, stop it, stopit _stopitstopitSTOPIT–!"_

He was suffocating– the smoke, the smoke from the fire, _the fire–!_

 _(impossible)_

 _'_ _Breathe.'_

A choked sob echoed through the vacant room.

"Oyaji…"

 _(impossible)_

The room was quiet.

He heaved a heavy sigh.

Staring resolutely ahead, he reached for the attire in front of him.

He could do this.

He _would_ do this.

He would find out.

He would go out as Kaitou Kid.

He would confront him.

And maybe–

 _(impossible)_

Just maybe…

 _(impossible)_

"Eight years, huh… Let's see what this Kaitou can do,"

 _(impossible)_

And finally knotting the tie and slipping it under the blazer, he stared at his reflection.

"…Ne, Oyaji?"

He swore he could see his father in the mirror.

 _(impossible)_

... _..._

 _Vengeance._

The feeling ran thick and cold in is his veins at the words, the chill of the night air forgotten.

"What did you say?!"

He couldn't think straight.

"Oyaji was murdered?!"

No, he couldn't think at all.

"By who?! _Who killed him?!_ "

All he knew was that his father was dead _(dead dead DEAD)_ and it wasn't an accident.

He was dead and _someone_ was at fault.

Someone who hadn't paid for it.

 _Someone was going to pay for it._

 _'_ _I'm going to find them.'_

"Kaito-bocchama…"

 _'_ _And I'm going to make them pay.'_

His clenched jaw ached, he grip on the old man tight as he fought to steady his breathing.

All he could hear was _boom_ and screaming and choking and–

 _'_ _Breathe.'_

"I'll only ask you one more question."

 _'_ _Breathe.'_

"Please answer me honestly."

 _'_ _Oyaji…'_

"Was he… a thief?"

His eyes burned with tears.

"Was Oyaji really… Kaitou Kid?"

A new wave of anger and desperation rolled over him when he didn't answer immediately.

"Answer me, Jii-chan!"

Tightening his grip on his shoulders painfully _(grounding)_ and urgently _(pleasepleaseplease)_ , afraid if he let go, he'd never know the truth.

 _"_ _Answer me, dammit!"_

He could hear his own uneven breaths, feel the tremble of the shoulders underneath his gloves.

A shadow fell over the moon, cutting off its brilliant light.

"…Yes."

He could almost feel himself choke.

 _(impossible)_

 _'_ _But why…?'_

He stepped away and stood rigidly, his father's cape weighing heavily on his shoulders as it whipped frantically in the wind.

"I see."

 _(impossible)_

The rest of the world faded into the background as his mind swirled with questions unanswered, body trembling at the _ragegriefdesparation_ and _whywhywhy_ churning in his heart.

He looked up and the world brightened as the cloud passed.

The moon shone down and illuminated it rooftop.

 _'_ _I'll find them Oyaji.'_

The storm of emotions steeling his heart.

 _'_ _I'll become Kaitou Kid in your place.'_

The world was coming back to him now. He could hear the heavy steps of the police force stampeding up the stairs.

He opened his eyes to the cityscape silhouetting the night sky.

 _'_ _And I_ will _avenge you.'_

... _..._

 _Blanket._

There would be no sleep for him tonight.

Not when he had so much to think about.

 _'_ _Oyaji…'_

And there, alone in the empty house, the young man felt more like a child, wrapped up in the blanket.

So he sat, hunched up on his bed, knees to his chest and arm wrapped securely around them, staring at the very same picture of his father he had stared at for the past eight years, on the wall directly opposite him.

Eyes heavy and vision blurred with unshed tears, he stared longingly at his father's smiling face.

Even under the blanket, he felt cold.

He missed his mother's warm touch, the blanket doing little to make him feel secure again.

It was a poor substitute, he realised, for the warmth of his parents.

He so desperately wanted it to be the arms of his mother, so he could feel safe again and ask her _why_ and _how_ and just finally _be there_ _with him_ like she'd promised.

But she wasn't there.

He tried to imagine himself wrapped in the arms of his father, to feel the joy and wonder of sitting with him as he told stories and made miracles with his magic.

But he was dead.

 _'_ _No. He was murdered.'_

He could still feel the remnant of the adrenaline in his veins, a sea of boiling _rage_ haphazardly concealed under a veil of numbness, slowly shattering under the weight of his newly revived _grief_.

He was breaking.

And he knew it.

Burying himself further into the insufficient warmth, all he could do was hold onto the pretence of stability, and continue to hope his deathly grasp on the blanket was as strong as his grip on sanity.

* * *

NOTES:

Oyaji - an informal way of calling one's father (similar to 'old man' or 'pops', commonly translated to 'dad')

-bocchama - young master

ACE: Imagine the card game at the start was against a classmate, Nakamori-keibu (Inspector) or one of the officers that work with him (I like to think those two had a pseudo-parent relationship because Kaito's dad died at an early age, especially with Chikage gone most of the time, so he would take him to work sometimes and become friends with some of his co-workers)  
The lines that Kaito is remembering about 'poker face' -ing are actually from a separate episode.  
 _[see: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 6 (Black Star) ]_

TIE: I chose to use the TV Special portrayal of the secret room with the broken cassette tape instead of the recorded messages on the jukebox because it felt angsty-er that way (also that's how is was in the original manga).

VENGEANCE: The dialogue from the rooftop scene in a mishmash of the dialogue from both versions of the episode.

BLANKET: The blanket scene is set the same night after the Moon's Pupil (or Eye of the Moon) heist, before he talks with Jii-chan or his mother again. (the way that Chikage acts after Kaito says that he knows in both versions I felt was kinda mean)  
 _[see: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 1 (The Revived Phantom Thief Kid) and Magic Kaito TV Special: Kaitou Kid's Busy Date ]_

* * *

 **TBC**

7/100

btw, follows, favs and reviews = motivation

~Rei K.


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